One of the all-time greats out of a group of all-time greats, the “Santa’s My Boyfriend” opening from Saturday Night Live, featuring Amy Poehler, Kristin Wiig, and Maya Rudolph is just a classic mix of seasonal icons and suggestive lyrics, delivered in perfect harmony. Enjoy.

The Fine Print: Video embed via YouTube and courtesy of SNL/Broadway Video. All rights belong to SNL/Broadway Video. This video has not been altered in any way. We thank our friends at SNL and Broadway Video for sharing and YouTube for providing the publishing channel. Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidaze, from your friends at Perception Engineering and the Media Bunker.

“I don’t want a lot for ChristmasThere is just one thing I needI don’t care about the presentsUnderneath the Christmas treeI just want you for my own..”

--From "All I Want For Christmas is You", Written by Mariah Carey and Walter Ananasieff

Secretary of Defense James Mattis resigned from his post on Thursday, in protest over the current administration’s sudden policy decision to withdraw from Syria and stage a troop draw down from Afghanistan. The text of General Mattis’ letter can be see here

Reading the letter is well worth your time and attention. Mattis’ resignation was a very major event for our country and the current Administration. Draw your own conclusions after reading the letter.

The Nightshift publishes direct links to the world’s greatest English language newspapers to facilitate research and encourage understanding of the world’s events of the day as well as provide resources to follow certain segments of sports, business, society, art, and weather. We have added the New York Times Morning Briefing to give you a brief overview of the news and Golf WRX, a specialized news/reviews/information site that covers golf, professional golf, and golf equipment.

Today is National Pfeffernusse Day (you know, the spicey German cookies). It’s more pleasurable to eat one than to spell the name, so have at it.

The Fine Print. Images courtesy of GettyImages.com, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. All rights belong to them or their designate. This image has not been altered in anyway. We thank them for sharing. This post is number 2098 for this site (we stay busy overnight). The Nightshift is a continually evolving experiment in news communications and is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. Currently, The Nightshift staff is developing a very streamlined graphic/display approach to news distribution. That doesn’t mean we won’t return to the People, Places, and Events for Today format that we have used for the last year (and are using today) but it does mean that constant development of the site is one of the reasons we produce it. We also re-freshed links to the top five, which had been de-activated (for some odd reason). And, if you are a follower of this site, you know that at the beginning of the month, we suffered an image outage…that programming adventure has been corrected, due to expert intervention by Anne Ellen Geiger, our tech guru…. As always, we thank Anne Ellen for stepping in (again) to save the day. The Nightshift is rapid iteration within a surprisingly wide bandwidth. Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world .

The Christmas Music posts continue with yet another playlist of traditional favorites redone by contemporary artists and new Christmas music you haven’t heard before. Pay special attention to The Blenders’ version of “Sleigh Bells”, Blake Shelton and Michael Buble’s “Home”, Mahalia Jackson’s “No Room at the End”; and “It Snowed” by Meaghan Smith. Everything on the list is terrific and everything will give you a seasonal lift. And…playing loud is recommended.

The 10th in a series of terrific and smartly curated playlists of Christmas and Holiday music.

As always, the spirit shines through.

[table]

no, title, artist

1, Sleigh Bells, The Blenders

2, Wonderful Dream (Holidays Are Coming), Melanie Thornton

3, Ye Merry Gents, Billy Paul Williams

4, Home, Blake Shelton w/Michael Buble

5, Best Christmas Ever, Wonder Girls

6, It’s Not Really Christmas, Kevin Parker

7, White Christmas, Michael Buble (w/Shania Twain)

8, Working at Christmas, Paul Brady

9, The Day It Snowed, Amusement Parks On Fire

10, Christmas Time to Me, Jordan Sparks

11, Christmas Kiss, Steven Curtis Chapman

12, Even Santa Gets The Blues, Marty Stuart

13, Driving Home For Christmas, The Reggae Band

14, No Room At The Inn, Mahalia Jackson

15, It Snowed, Meaghan Smith

16, Birth of Love, SuperHerose

17, Just To Be With You (This Christmas), Nick Lowe

18, One More Sleep, Leona Lewis

19, Merry Christmas Baby, Bruce Springsteen

[/table]

You can listen to the entire playlist through the courtesy of our friends at Spotify. Just click this link: COMT X and you will be able to stream the Christmas playlist via Spotify’s excellent web player. Special note: when you click the link, you will be taken to Spotify’s web player. There, you’ll have a couple of choices: sign in if you currently have a Spotify account; signup for a free Spotify account (you’ll be glad you did) or take advantage of their $.99 special for three months of Spotify premium, which has a few extra features the free version doesn’t have –wider selection and no commercials. Either way, you should check it out if you like music. Enjoy…and Happy Holidays. Special thanks to DJ Tschugge for compiling the list, along with the team at the Media Bunker and Perception Engineering.

“And so I’m offering this simple phraseTo kids from one to ninety-twoAlthough it’s been said many times, many waysMerry Christmas to you..”

Saturday Night Live has been on television for over four decades now. The show is an American cultural icon, and it’s introduced us to actors and writers who have dominated and influenced film, music, and comedy: Seth Meyers, John Belushi, Will Farrell, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Dan Ackroyd, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Chris Farley, Steven Colbert. The show lives in the moment, and so each weekly show contains bits that can be seen as a snapshot of our current social/ideological/ pulse. Among the very best–and most long lasting–of the bits produced for Saturday Night Live are the Christmas show sketches and short films. Continuing our tradition, each year we showcase the best of SNL’s Christmas material in our “Holidaze” series; this year, we start with a sketch produced for the 15 December 2018 show (with Matt Damon as host), featuring Matt Damon and Cecily Strong. It’s an instant classic, and no doubt it will resonate with just about everyone.

The Fine Print: Video embed via YouTube and courtesy of SNL/Broadway Video. All rights belong to SNL/Broadway Video. This video has not been altered in any way. We thank our friends at SNL and Broadway Video for sharing and YouTube for providing the publishing channel. Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidaze, from your friends at Perception Engineering and the Media Bunker.

The easy answer is….it’s traditional. It’s something we look forward to, something we expect, a tradition with which we are all totally familiar. And now, of course, there are more channels for Christmas music than ever before–from CDs, radio, satellite radio, streaming internet sites, TV music channels, even the music beds for commercials (Coke does a great job of breaking new Christmas songs via TV commercial).

If you want to hear some Christmas music, you have a lot of options, starting in early November and running through New Year’s.

Christmas music comes out of the box once a year and when it does, one resonates with the sounds of holiday seasons past, stirring warm memories, and it’s all good. And Christmas itself is tied to your past memories. During the Christmas season, the events of the past year pile up like leaves on a just raked fall lawn, just in time for holiday retrospection and New Year’s resolutions. And, of course, Christmas itself is something of a depository of your entire life history and that of your family. It’s where great memories from the past are remembered and retold again and new memories for the future are created. And it all needs a sound track.

Music is very good at that—bringing back memories. Five bars into “My Girl” by the Temptations and suddenly you’re back in the fraternity house at a post-game party, squeezing someone tight with one hand and holding a drink in the other.

But the resonance of music with memories may not really be the impetus behind our affection for holiday music.

Perhaps the real reason is that Christmas/holiday music is a known commodity—my goodness, we’ve been listening to the stuff since we were old enough to recognize sounds—and each year we hear a huge group of new interpretations of Christmas music (every hot recording artist puts out a Christmas album, shamelessly promoted by artist and record company alike) which serves to both enlighten us about the potential of individual expression and to make old songs new. “New water over old rocks” a mountaineering friend of mine calls it and I think that sums up the situation pretty well.

The tradition builds on itself every year, as new favorites emerge, new interpretations shake up the Christmas music landscape, time passes and the meaning and affection for the season evolves and changes. And, Christmas music cuts across a lot of demographic lines: young, old, rich, poor, white, black, urban, suburban, country. It’s a unifying soundtrack for a unifying season and even when you know the song, you may still be surprised at the rendition, interpretation, or production.

The re-casting of traditional songs combined with the influx of new soon-to-be favorites produces a warm and memory-filled soundscape for the season.

So turn it on, play it loud, enjoy the memories and build some new ones.

The Nightshift publishes direct links to the world’s greatest English language newspapers to facilitate research and encourage understanding of the world’s events of the day.

We have added the New York Times Morning Briefing to give you a brief overview of the news and Golf WRX, a specialized news/reviews/information site that covers golf, professional golf, and golf equipment.

Today is National Date Nut Bread Day. You know you love Date Nut Bread….today you can advance the cause to others.

The Fine Print. Images courtesy of GettyImages.com, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. All rights belong to them or their designate. This image has not been altered in anyway. We thank them for sharing. The Nightshift is a continually evolving experiment in news communications and is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. Currently, The Nightshift staff is developing a very streamlined graphic/display approach to news distribution. That doesn’t mean we won’t return to the People, Places, and Events for Today format that we have used for the last year (and are using today) but it does mean that constant development of the site is one of the reasons we produce it. We also re-freshed links to the top five, which had been de-activated (for some odd reason). And, if you are a follower of this site, you know that at the beginning of the month, we suffered an image outage…that programming adventure has been corrected, due to expert intervention by Anne Ellen Geiger, our tech guru…. As always, we thank Anne Ellen for stepping in (again) to save the day. The Nightshift is rapid iteration within a surprisingly wide bandwidth. Thanks for reading. Now–catch up on the world .

More Christmas music for you to select from. The “COMT IX (Christmas One More Time) playlist is just a little lower key than some of the rocking music normally featured. Makes no difference…fast or slow, it’s all great. Don’t forget to read about the special direct link to Spotify (below) that will enable you to play the list.

[table]

no, title, artist

1, Carol of The Bells, George Winston

2, Winter Wonderland, Tony Bennett & The Count Basie Band

3, Long Road Home, Sheryl Crow

4, The Nutcracker-Russian Dance, Philadelphia Orchestra

5, Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree, She & Him

6, Christmas Lights, Coldplay

7, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Ray Charles

8, Christmas With My Girl, Mindless Behavior

9, Snow Globe, Mathew Wertz

10, Christmas Without You, One Republic

11, O Christmas Tree, King Kooba

12, Last Christmas, Kimberly Locke

13, Merry Christmas Happy Holidays, Chicago

14, Please Come Home For Christmas, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals

15, Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow, Marcus Roberts Trio

16, Well Hear It’s Christmas, Philip Frankhauser

17, Christmas Time Is Here, KEM

18, Christmas In New Orleans, Louis Armstrong

19, Glorious, Melissa Etheridge

20, Skating, Cyrus Chestnut & Friends

[/table]

You can listen to the entire playlist through the courtesy of our friends at Spotify. Just click this link: COMT IX and you will be able to stream the Christmas playlist via Spotify’s excellent web player. Special note: when you click the link, you will be taken to Spotify’s web player. There, you’ll have a couple of choices: sign in if you currently have a Spotify account; signup for a free Spotify account (you’ll be glad you did) or take advantage of their $.99 special for three months of Spotify premium, which has a few extra features the free version doesn’t have –wider selection and no commercials. Either way, you should check it out if you like music. Enjoy…and Happy Holidays. Special thanks to DJ Tschugge for compiling the list, along with the team at the Media Bunker and Perception Engineering.